1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a floor care appliance such as a vacuum cleaner and, more specifically, to a vacuum cleaner having several embodiments of a dirt collecting system.
2. Summary of the Prior Art
Upright vacuum cleaners are well known in the art. Typically, these upright vacuum cleaners include a vacuum cleaner housing pivotally mounted to a vacuum cleaner foot. The foot is formed with a nozzle opening and may include an agitator mounted therein for loosening dirt and debris from a floor surface. A motor may be mounted to either the foot or the housing for producing suction at the nozzle opening. The suction at the nozzle opening picks up the loosened dirt and debris and produces a stream of dirt-laden air which is ducted to the vacuum cleaner housing.
It is known in the art to provide vacuum cleaners with interchangeable particle separating and dirt collecting systems. Recent consumer demand has forced floor care appliance and vacuum cleaner designers to design floor care appliances and vacuum cleaners with improved performance, particularly with respect to filtration performance. An example of a floor care appliance with improved cleaning and filtration performance is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,596,044 issued to Bilek et al., owned by a common assignee, and incorporated by reference fully herein. The dirt collecting system presented therein utilizes a filtration member utilizing a layer of expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) as the filtration media which is known to have superior filtration characteristics with the convenience of a bagless dirt cup. At the same time, consumers wish to retain the choice in which type of dirt collecting system the cleaner employs, especially with respect to utilizing a disposable or otherwise filtration bag which some consumers regards as more desirable, along with the other features disclosed herein. The present invention is a dirt collecting system for a floor care appliance having several embodiments giving consumers a choice of selecting a filtration media comprised of an apertured wall and a filter, a filtration bag only, or a combination of a filtration bag and the apertured wall and filter combination.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved floor care appliance having an interchangeable particle separating and collecting system.
It is yet still another object of the invention to provide an improved floor care appliance having an interchangeable particle separating and collecting system utilizing a single dirt container wherein in one embodiment the particle separating system consists of a filtration bag only, in another embodiment it is comprised of a filtration bag and an apertured wall/filtration cartridge combination, and in another embodiment an apertured wall/filtration cartridge combination only.